


A Game of Secrets

by azunasulaykrum



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-04-02
Packaged: 2019-04-17 06:43:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,233
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14183154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azunasulaykrum/pseuds/azunasulaykrum
Summary: Everyone's favorite black cat proposes a new game to help pass the time after his and Ladybug's nightly Paris patrols. The rules? They tell each other their secrets except the ones concerning their identities. But that doesn't mean there are other ways around that...





	A Game of Secrets

**Author's Note:**

> This fic's premise was inspired by Jhumpa Lahiri's short story "A Temporary Matter." I wanted this to be a one-shot but I realized that I'd never post it if I waited to finish.
> 
>  
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Miraculous Ladybug characters.

“What say you to a game, milady?”

Chat Noir was leaning against a chimney with his arms crossed over his chest. It was just another evening of Paris patrol for him and Ladybug--but that was exactly what bothered him. Would they always go on like this, purifying the akumatized or going on patrol, never knowing who the other was? Never knowing if they knew each other behind the masks? Surely not. At least, Chat hoped not. He was thinking this just as their patrol ended and Ladybug prepared to take off into what was left of the cool night. The full moon shone brightly behind her, but Chat felt that she outshone it. He wanted her to stay so badly--one more word, one more smile--that he said the first thing that came to mind.

“A game, chaton?” said Ladybug. She did not put away her yo-yo, but she was smiling at him. Chat almost forgot to explain himself. “So late in the night?”

“And what a beautiful night it is! It’d be a shame to waste it by going to bed,” Chat seated himself on the roof’s peak with a flourish of his tail and patted the space next to him. “Come on, milady. Indulge me.”

Chat didn’t know if his logic actually got through to Ladybug or if he no longer had the power of bad luck or if his polkadotted partner was feeling ill. But she actually put away her yo-yo and sat next to him.

“Okay,” she said. “How does this game go?”

Apparently, the power of bad luck hadn’t left him after all. Chat cast around for an idea when he got distracted by Ladybug’s bluebell eyes--such clear, lovely eyes they were. A shame that half her face had to be hidden behind that adorable mask.

“We each tell each other something we’ve never told anyone,” Chat said. “Let’s tell each other secrets.”

Not even a scowl could mar his lady’s beauty. “Chat, you know the rules--”

“We tell each other any secret except the one regarding our identities,” Chat amended. “You can think of this as our own version of a trust exercise.”

“Are you saying you don’t trust me?”

“Not at all! It’s just--I would like to get to know you more, milady, and you keep turning down my offers of dinner, so--”

Ladybug was still frowning, but with much less intensity. She raised her hands, palms open, as if imploring him. “But Chat Noir, what would be the point? We don’t know who the other is!”

“Exactly!” Chat said. He tapped Ladybug’s nose. “We don’t know who the other is. No faces to attach to the secrets besides one another. When you think of it that way, who would we even tell?”

Only the night wind made a noise for the next few moments. Then, almost imperceptibly, Ladybug nodded. “Fine. I suppose it can’t hurt.”

Chat grinned. “So, three secrets each?”

“One.”

“Two.”

“Deal,” Ladybug said. She held out her hand for him to shake. “And we’re not allowed to make fun of each other’s secrets. Understood?”

Chat noted that Ladybug’s shoulders--tense this whole time--had relaxed. He shook her hand. “Understood.”

Ladybug smiled a satisfied smile. She hugged one knee to her chest and rested her chin on it. “So, felines first.”

“It’s actually lady-bugs first, madamoiselle,” said Chat with a snicker. “But since I proposed this game first, it’s only fair that I go first, too. Let’s see…”

Chat racked his brains for a secret, one that wouldn’t implicate Adrien. He thought of all the long years he spent living in the Agreste mansion. For a big house, there sure wasn’t a lot of room for him to keep secrets before becoming Chat Noir. He was going to have to look beyond the house.

“Once, I snuck out of my house and went to an old arcade,” Chat began. “I wanted to play a racing game or a fighting game, but I ended up spending the whole day on a Dance Dance Revolution.”

A giggle bubbled up from Ladybug. “You really like to dance, don’t you?”

“You know it,” Chat winked at Ladybug and pointed finger guns at her for emphasis. “However, I dance much better when I have a partner. Would you like to give me a whirl?” 

“Are you trying to make up for your secret’s lack of juiciness?”

“Ah, but the best part of my secret has yet to be revealed, milady,” said Chat knowingly. “I spent all day on that machine because some kid kept challenging me to their favorite song.”

Ladybug laughed outright. She clutched both her knees as she did. 

“Hey, you said we wouldn’t make fun of each other’s secrets!” Chat said with mock indignation. He was smiling though.

“Hey, I’m not making fun of you! I’m just laughing, that’s all--”

“He was being a brat!” Chat gestured at the whole of Paris as if it were the kid, so caught up in the memory was he. “But he danced a revolution around me, I’ll admit.”

“Why did you have to sneak out of the house to do that?”

“I was…” images of Gabriel Agreste’s stern face and the portrait of his mother flashed through Chat’s mind. “...grounded.”

“Ah.” Ladybug let go of her knees and stared at a spot on one of the roof tiles. “Somehow it’s hard to picture you grounded, especially with the way you move all the time--jumping from roof to roof and all that. I guess sometimes I forget that you’re just a teenager, too--like me.”

Chat wanted to lighten the mood. “So, Bugaboo, you watch me move?”

Ladybug pushed him. He didn’t know if it was the moonlight or if his eyes weren’t as sharp as he thought, but he thought he saw a flare of red peeking beneath her mask. “I have to, silly cat! Why do you think I keep catching you every time you slip and fall?”

Chat caught one of her hands and dropped a kiss across her knuckles. “I knew you found me irresistible, milady. Your turn?”

“Right.” Ladybug withdrew her hand. “Hmm, let me think...oh, I know! Out of all the people we’ve ever rescued, I really hate that Chloe Bourgeois!”

“Milady, that’s not really a secret--”

“What are you talking about? I never told anyone that!”

“Okay, then let’s call it an open secret,” said Chat, smirking and shrugging. In truth, he was shrugging away the feeling that Ladybug’s secret had less weight than the one he told her. He resolved to tell her something lighter. “I once wrote a poem about you.”

For some reason, Ladybug’s entire body stiffened. That was not the reaction he’d been expecting at all. “You did?” she said, her voice somewhat strained. 

“I did,” said Chat, nodding. “But I threw it away. It was no good.”

“Can you remember what it said?”

“No,” he lied. “It really wasn’t worth remembering. Last round, Bugaboo? And no open secrets this time, please.”

Ladybug hugged her knees again. She didn’t speak for a long while, and Chat Noir had no clue what she was thinking. Was it something he’d said? He was beginning to get chills and he didn’t think it was the wind.

“All right, fine,” she said at length. “Out of everyone we’ve ever saved...my favorite is Adrien Agreste.”


End file.
